Demand for Transit and Long-Distance Options

I am struck by the confluence of information floating across my screen about the more and more mainstream notion of transportation options in different settings, local, rural, urban, and regional.

National Association of Development Organizations
Exploring the Role of Regional Transportation Projects as Rural Economy Drivers is a NADO research report that looks at three positive experiences with transportation-led economic development projects. Funding sources are also discussed.

(1) Vermont: Construction in Brattleboro of a passenger intermodal transportation hub. The transportation hub, just blocks away from the Amtrak station, added to the downtown 300 parking spaces, bicycle racks, a parking enforcement office, street-level commercial space, and a connection to existing local and regional bus service. The results are fewer empty storefronts downtown, a new theater, and plans for renovating the Amtrak station and building a nearby mixed-use retail and multi- family residential project.

(2) Alabama: Creation of Baylinc, the first multi-county public transportation system in Southern Alabama. The report details the funding hurdles, importance of potential commuter service demand and effective partnerships with local leaders and transit systems. The result is the planning of other regional services, including ferry service and a guaranteed ride home component of commuter service. The lesson emphasized is not to give up on a good idea.

(3) Oregon: Recent projects of the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC), with the support of regional partners, in opening a ride brokerage call center, preparing a coordinated regional public transportation plan, designing a bus system, building an intermodal transit hub, and starting local and regional bus service. That service is now serving 200,000 riders per year, with a shift from "a transit- dependent population (low-income, older adult and disabled customers) to a population that chooses public transit over other available transportation options ... helping boost the local economy." Although serving the wider public was not part of the plan, early-adopter human service agencies and transportation-challenged individuals convinced small communities and agencies to support public transit. There are now plans to partner with the business community and add pedestrian and bicycle connections. The advice of one participant is to "[c]reate a story of the problem and have data available to demonstrate a need for the proposed service. "

NADO also issued new reports about air quality projects (with one transit example), emergency planning and economic recovery after disasters.

Long-Distance Connectivity

American Bus Association
The ABA is promoting the $8.8 million that the Federal Transit Administration is offering for wheelchair lifts as part of its Over-the-Road Bus (OTRB) Accessibility Program. The ABA has a special grant information webpage with details and contacts for assisting with grant applications. The deadline is Sept. 12, 2011.

ABA mentions Who Rides Curbside Buses? A Passengers Survey of Discount Curbside Bus Services in Six Eastern and Midwestern Cities, a survey of passengers of intercity curbside bus service about what modes they are taking their business from and also examines the differences between travelers on these buses and on conventional carriers. "Curbside bus companies have attracted publicity for their steeply discounted fares, free wireless internet, and express services on routes that had seen little new service in decades." The 14-page report was prepared by the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University.

The buses are generating trips in the two areas studied, East Coast and Midwest cities. Their fares undercut Amtrak's, are competitive with car travel, and offer free wifi. On the East Coast, where Amtrak's Northeast Corridor service is a popular option with frequent trains, the curbside buses are stealing business, though Amtrak is still showing ridership increases. In the Midwest, bus passengers are forgoing automobile travel add airplane trips.

Young Demographic

The age 18-25 age group represents a large segment of the curbside bus market and though I have seen many people outside this age group board those buses, including me, there is no question that it is mostly an under-30 crowd. Perhaps due to the nature of their travel and not being as concerned with time (or more concerned with free wifi at low cost), personal rather than business trips predominate. A huge difference with the conventional bus market is the over 90 percent use of portable electronic devices. The only greater percentage use is on the Acela, which costs a whole lot more, is the quickest option (rivaling the plane) and generally has much more expensively dressed travelers.

The ABA also reports that Megabus in the United Kingdom is experimenting with sleeper service, including one's "very own bed," on overnight service between Glasgow and London.

Events

National Association of Development Organizations
NADO posts that Apr. 12, Governing is hosting a free webinar, Smart, Sustainable, Livable Communities: Plans, Projects and Key Market Drivers. The webinar will explore the “green government” market and opportunities in building sustainable communities.

National Association of Counties
2011 Rail Conference - DuPage County, Ill., on Apr. 27–29, 2011. The conference will focus on the impact of freight and passenger rail on citizens, businesses, and county, city and state governments.

Members of NACo’s Rural Action Caucus (RAC) are currently in Washington, DC, for the Annual RAC Legislative Fly-in. They will meet with more than 60 members of Congress to advance priority issues for rural counties. RAC members will meet with officials from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Forest Service
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. RAC’s leadership will meet with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Nearly two-thirds of the nation's 3,068 counties are designated as rural, with a combined population of 60 million. One of RAC's 2011 priorities is transportation reauthorization.

Webinar - Using County Health Indicators to Inform Local Policy Decisions - May 5, 2011 at 2 p.m. EDT. Speakers will discuss how counties can utilize community health and quality of life indicator information to help inform policy decisions and more effectively target local public health resources.

NACo Annual Conference - Multnomah County (Portland), Ore., on July 15–19, 2011. Aron Ralston, mountain climber and inspiration for the Film 127 Hours, will be a featured speaker.

Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living
APRIL Annual Conference - Anchorage, on October 15-17, 2011.

Social Media and Creative Advocacy

Jewish Federations of North America
For those interested in the non-profit world, JFNA keeps a non-profit blog list on its website. Scroll down to the last list on the page. Some of the non-profit blogs focus on social media and technology, others on philanthropy and advocacy.

National Head Start Association
NHSA has begun an advocacy campaign, Hands-In for Head Start, which is an old-fashioned "contact your congressman" campaign" with a twist. The twist is that Head Start pre-schools are creating murals representing their classes with childrens' handprints and names; on the bottom is written the total number of children "in the classroom/agency, with the name of the classroom/agency, and where it is located." Parents are encouraged to give the murals to members of Congress and the Senate with suggestions for talking points, press releases, photographs and videos.

National Association of Development Organizations
NADO's technical assistance center, RPO America, tweets a link to a New York Times mapping of Census data. Beware: this is cool and will distract you. Colors are wonderfully used. Okay, yes, I looked first at Brooklyn, that's Kings County, by the way, but you can see such places as Holt County, Nebraska and Chaves County, New Mexico.

Local Stories

Long commutes across county lines see the Ohio State University offer vanpools and guaranteed parking and ride homes for vanpoolers who sometimes need a more flexible option. Read about this other vanpool activity in Licking County, Ohio. Thanks to the Joblinks twitter feed for the link. Follow at JobTransInfo. (Joblinks is a technical assistance center at the Community Transportation Association of America.

Events and Presentation Opportunities

American Public Health Association (APHA)
Midyear Meeting - June 23-25, 2011, in Chicago. The conference will focus on the implementation of health care reform.

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO)
Webinar - Social Media and Electronic Participation in Regional Planning and Economic Development - March 30 at 2 p.m. (ET). The webinar will include an overview of social media uses and demographics, as well as case studies of two regional planning and development organizations effectively using social media in their outreach.

Presentation Opportunities

Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO)
AMPO is calling for presentation submissions for its 2011 Annual Conference. Visit http://www.ampo.org/content/index.php?pid=245. The conference will be held October 25- 28, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. For more information email mstaunton@ampo.org.

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO)
NADO is seeking presentation ideas for the National Rural Transportation Conference, which will occur in Washington, DC, August 24 – 26, 2011. The deadline to submit a presentation abstract is April 15, and abstracts can be submitted online at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BU7W9KEC3. The conference is typically attended by regional transportation planning professionals and stakeholders, including from rural and small metro areas served by RPOs and small MPOs, and covers issues relating to all modes of transportation.

Regional Planning and Collaboration

National Association of Development Organization (NADO)
The NADO Research Foundation and RPO America are hosting a webinar on Feb. 15 showcasing the work of two award-winning organizations on rural and small metropolitan alternative transportation. One of the presentations will focus on rural travel demand management via a website and outreach materials that address transportation options throughout the region.

From RPO America's twitter feed: RPO America & NADO Guidelines and applications are now out for two National Endowment for the Arts initiatives that are available to support rural communities through community design and creative placemaking activities. http://tinyurl.com/4bma4wt

National Transit Institute (NTI)
NTI has upcoming classes in ADA paratransit eligibility, vehicle procurement and technology for rural transportation services. Information is available at http://www.ntionline.com/Courses.asp.

Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO)
AMPO posts its Fall Newletter, which, somehow, I missed previously. It has articles about sustainable performance measures for transportation, including regional metrics as well as measurement systems that include transit, walking and biking. Examples from Portland, Ore., and Northern New Jersey are multi-modal.

Not Reading the Tea Leaves - Yet

I have been avoiding paying too much attention to the occasional statements about when we are likely to see real movement with transportation reauthorization because, frankly, I want to pay attention when the meat is being discussed. However, my eyes opened wide when the President put himself out on a limb for long-distance public transportation in his State of the Union address and it is intriguing that Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood quoted the address in his blog to emphasize the President's commitment to high speed rail.

Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high-speed rail, which could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying. As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway.

What are the prospects for such a bold transportation plan? What are the implications for reauthorization and for local public and human services transportation? Perhaps those tea leaves deserve some attention.

Emergency Evacuations

The newsletter of the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) , Rural Transportation News, announces two reports relevant to emergency evacuations in rural areas. Both are available at www.evacuationandtransportation.org. The newsletter gives an in-depth summary of the reports. One examines the capacity of transit and school buses to provide transportation during emergency evacuations in places like the Gulf Coast, where many rural residents do not have cars and hurricanes are a fact of life, making evacuations a seasonal routine. The report also covers coordination and communications.

The other report looks into workforce, operating budget, and communication in rural evacuations. The evacuations discussed n this publication involve moving people from urban areas into rural ones.

From the Archives

Here are some emergency management resources from my old newsletter, with valuable input from Kelly Shawn of the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA).

National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination (NRC), housed at CTAA:
The NRC website has a page, Emergency Preparedness and Response, with many resources listed. These include materials about emergency evacuation, planning and reentry. Especially noteworthy is Evacuating Populations With Special Needs - Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning Primer Series and Transportation's Role in Emergency Evacuation and Reentry.

CTAA’s Emergency Management Resource Alert page has a wealth of resources listed that address specific vulnerable populations, coordination, rural areas, planning organizations, case studies and more. Also available from CTAA are the presentations from the 2008 Emergency Evacuation Conference.

Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities:
This council has a host of materials, including a couple of items we developed at the NRC, on its web site at http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/asp/emergencyprep.asp.

House Infrastructure and Transportation Committee summary of a hearing, U.S. Mayors Speak Out: Addressing Disasters in Cities about H.R. 3377, the Disaster Response, Recovery, And Mitigation Enhancement Act of 2009. (This legislation has not yet moved forward in either the House or the Senate.)

Future resources

Due out next year is TRB’s A-33 – Communication with Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation and Emergency Management Toolkit.
September 2011 – TCRP A-33: Communication with Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation and Emergency Management Toolkit. Interim report due out in September 2010.
October 2011 - TCRP A-37 [RFP]: Paratransit Emergency Preparedness and Operations Handbook
September 2012 (approximately) – TCRP A-36 [RFP]: Command-Level Decision Making for Transit Emergency Managers

Livable Communities : Legislative Information

The Livable Communities Act (S. 1619, H.R.4690) is proceeding in the Senate, having been approved by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The Act is receiving broad support in the transit and planning communities. If passed, the bill would provide more than $2 billion in investment for planning and challenge grant programs for public and community transportation infrastructure, services, transit-oriented development and other vital efforts, all under the auspices of the innovative working partnership among the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The text of the Act and actions in Congress are available at Thomas.

Analysis of the Act

Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) - CTAA has prepared an explanation of the Act's importance and an analysis and summary of the Act.

American Public Transportation Association (APTA) continues to have legislative updates on its homepage and in its weekly newsletters.

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has its Association's testimony about the Livable Communities Act posted and linked from its home page at Latest News & Press.

National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) has a livability page devoted to resources and congressional information.

AARP has also posted a letter to Congress in support of the Act. AARP's Public Policy Institute also has released reports about livability and seniors.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A) http://n4a.org/files/advocacy/campaigns/policy-priority-10.pdf

By the way, the American Public Works Association
will be participating in NARC's Regional Metropolitan and Urban Policy Forum in Austin, TX on Sept. 27-28. APWA staff will discuss sustainability, livability and infrastructure planning. APEA has more information at its Center for Sustainability

Upcoming Events with Transportation Elements

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO)
NADO is hosting its annual training conference in San Diego on Aug. 28-31, 2010. There are several transportation and economic development sessions. There will also be sessions on emergency services and local food production.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA)
ESPA will be holding a two week online dialogue this summer from July 26 - Aug. 6, 2010. During the Paratransit Online Dialogue, participants may submit, comment on, and rate ideas related to paratransit service provision. Topics will include ADA paratransit service, human services transportation, accessible fixed route transit, accessible pathways, taxis, volunteer programs, and aging services transportation. The dialogue is being held in support of the Federal Transit Administration to gather information, best practices, trends, and ideas relating to paratransit service. The information provided will be used to make recommendations and develop best practices on ways to meet the needs for efficient, effective, and person-directed paratransit services while addressing the challenges of reduced funding and other possible resource constraints that are facing many communities. The forum is free and open to anyone with knowledge or perspective to share on the topic.

For a regularly updated listing of events, please visit the NRC calendar, which has information and links to conferences and meetings related to human services and public transportation.

Resources and Events to Make Livability and Accessibility Happen

I admit to being early on the smart growth bandwagon and happy to see the concept morph into the more-inclusive livability/sustainability collaboration that is the inter-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities, among the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From what I hear, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are also coordinating with the partnership at various levels.

The current manual of funding sources among the partnership agencies is Leveraging the Partnership: DOT, HUD, and EPA Programs for Sustainable Communities. Many of the sources can be used for transit and other mobility options, including designing a street scape that improves access to buses, vanpool meeting areas, trains and biking facilities.

Since our transportation technical assistance (TA) centers have been involved with livability since before the term was invented, many of us are educating our constituencies about livability resources that will bring and enhance transit service and transportation options to communities across the country.

Upcoming Livability-Related Events among the TA Centers

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): Livability 101 Pre-conference on July 25, 2010, right before the Legislative Summit in Louisville, Ky. The Transportation Committee will be concentrating as well on high-speed rail, the link between transportation and health, biking and rural road safety.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA): Forming Partnerships with Transit for human service providers, disability community advocates and private transportation providers – online from Aug. 2 to Sept. 10, 2010.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA): State Public Transit Partnerships Conference on Aug. 3-6, 2010 in Seattle will have a livability session.

Access and Universal Design

Livability encompasses availability of transportation options beyond the automobile. To include everyone in the benefits of livable community initiatives raises issues of universal design, rural access and specialized transportation. The following resources and events address those issues and their links to economic development, equitable access for transportation-challenged populations, and costs.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) continues to assist the transit community to make people with disabilities welcome. A handy Transit Operator’s Pocket Guide informs drivers of their ADA responsibilities and etiquette for interacting with people with disabilities.

ESPA: Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers - online from July 19 to Sept. 24, 2010.

Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association (TLPA) releases Assessing the Full Cost of Implementing An Accessible Taxicab Program. The report discusses how the taxi industry works in terms of the practical obstacles and costs of providing accessibility where the additional costs fall on mostly small businesses and independent contractors.

Rural Accessibility

For rural transportation and economic development resources, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has a Rural Transportation Clearinghouse. Among the resources available are descriptions of how rural planning organizations operate in different states.

National Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Conference on October 24-27, 2010, in Burlington, Vt. Conference sessions will include accessibility, rural transit policy and planning, alternative fuels, regional systems, networks and coalitions, and tribal transportation.

ADA Takes the Ferry

Finally, with a picture of the Staten Island Ferry, the Secretary of Transportation blogged on June 17 about extending ADA protection to maritime vessels, including public ferry service. Secretary LaHood "encourage[s] everyone to visit www.regulations.gov and get their two cents in on the important questions" outstanding about this ADA extension.

Livable Communities Act: Senate Hears from County, Regional Council Representatives

In June 9, 2010 testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, representatives of the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), National Association of Regional Councils (NARC), the National Association of Counties (NACO), and the National League of Cities (NLC) testified in support of the Livable Communities Act, S. 1619.

NADO especially endorses the Act’s strong role for local governments and regional councils. A NADO board member’s hearing testimony laid out two provisions NADO would like to see included in the legislation:
1. Reserve no less than 20 percent of the regional planning and program implementation resources for small metropolitan and rural areas; and
2. Retain the bill's focus on providing incentives, not mandates, for regional development strategies that are locally developed and locally controlled on a voluntary basis, meaning absent any federal mandates.

NARC supports the Act’s voluntary, competitive and incentive-based approach to promoting comprehensive regional planning and implementation that allows each region to meet broad, federally-established goals by setting regionally-driven objectives.

NARC testimony specifically included transit as part of the interrelated transportation set of pedestrian/bicycle/transit systems and the “half-mile radius of proposed stations along the new bus rapid transit and commuter rail systems—for the economic and social benefit of the region as a whole.” Smart growth, neighborhood design, and commuter and long-distance public transportation options were the livability interests that NARC concentrated on, with a strong belief expressed in regional coordination.

NACO is pleased with legislation that meets counties where they are, with many just planning sustainability initiatives, but lacking the funds for implementation. NACO supports the multi-jurisdictional and coordinated approach that the Livable Communities Act envisions.

An NLC representative spoke of the Act’s integrated approach that coordinates the work of federal agencies that every city interacts with.

Written testimony and a video of the hearing are available at http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1f6b01b1-bcec-41c3-80e1-cd93ae7aa161.